Aim is to create multi-speciality fielders: R Sridhar

R Sridhar, the fielding coach of the Indian cricket team, expressed his satisfaction with the fielding standards of the team and stressed that the focus of the current set-up is to create multi-faceted fielders who can field in any position.

As the fielding coach, Sridhar's responsibility lies in identifying fielders for specific positions and enhancing their skills. The ones with quick reflexes are deployed inside the ring, while those who have a good arm are stationed in the outfield. However, players like Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, amongst others, are not only good close-in fielders but have also proven their abilities when patrolling the boundaries. Sridhar noted that it is a huge advantage for the team to have multiple players who can field equally well within as well as outside the 30-yard circle.

"In one-day cricket, the main challenge for any fielding team is to suffocate the batsmen and make them work really hard for their runs," Sridhar said on Tuesday (October 18), before resuming duties in the nets ahead of the second One-Day International against New Zealand at Delhi's Feroze Shah Kotla stadium.

"That's where fielders like Manish (Pandey) and Virat and Ajju (Rahane) or even Rohit for that matter are really useful inside the circle. Axar(Patel) is also a part of this (group). But again, because they are also all-round in terms of their skills and their agility, once we get into the death overs, these are the guys who go out in the deep because they are also very, very safe pair of hands... and throw well.

"We try and develop multi-speciality fielders rather than sticking to specialist fielders. That is what the aim is for this fielding team which comes down from MS (Dhoni), Virat and Anil (Kumble) himself. (They) give equal importance to fielding as you would do to any other skill and try and create multi-specialist fielders wherein the team benefits in terms of different phases of the game."

Sridhar named Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja as the ones with most powerful and accurate throw in the current team. But the 46-year-old heaped praise on Umesh Yadav for setting new fielding benchmarks for the pacers in the side. The Vidarbha pacer's blinder at mid-off in the first ODI at Dharamsala to dismiss Corey Anderson cheaply had the coach gushing with pride.

"We're really blessed to have some fast bowlers in the team who are very good athletes. Umesh is obviously fabulous, he's got a good arm and goes really well across the ground," said Sridhar, who returned as the fielding coach of the team ahead of the Tests against New Zealand.

"Umesh is an exception in that terms. It is not just because of his athleticism that he is good, it is also the fact that he puts in quite a bit of yards during practice sessions in terms of his catching and fielding. That's probably given him the edge and set a new benchmark as far as fast bowlers fielders are concerned," he pointed.